A referendum will appear on the online ballots Tuesday and Wednesday asking students if they approve of a $12 fee increase as part of the University’s contract negotiations with the Champaign-Urbana Mass Transit District.

It has been four years since the previous increase.

The proposed increase will cover not only additional service but inflation as well, said Bill Volk, managing director of MTD.

“A lot of the increase is inflationary because the fee hasn’t been raised in four years,” he said.

The absolute minimum transportation fee students could pay next year is $47 per semester compared to the $38 students pay now, said Sky Opila, Illinois Student Senate press secretary, senior in Media and former Illini Media employee. The $9 increase is imminent.

“If we were to lose our contract with MTD, (the students) could easily end up paying $50 to a bus system,” Opila said in reference to having to pay every time a student takes a bus.

“We could pay $50 now for unlimited use.”

The proposed changes to the current MTD contract include extended late-night service, expanded bus routes, increased access to the downtowns of Champaign and Urbana and less bus traffic on Wright Street.

Associate Chancellor Peg Rawles said that while ending the contract with MTD is still an option, it’s not what the University would prefer to do.

“Is it an option?” she said of potentially terminating the University’s contract. “It’s an option, but not a desirable one.”

The exact way the new contract is put on paper is not necessarily what the campus will have for the next three years, Opila said.

“If something isn’t working and needs correcting, MTD will look at the viable options and continue to upgrade so that the system is useful for every student,” he said.

MTD will be flexible wherever it can be, Volk added.

“We want people to be happy with the service, to use the service,” he said.

“It doesn’t do any good to anger people.”

The new MTD contract would last for the next three years.